SYDNEY, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Australian Queensland government has come under fire from indigenous leaders on Wednesday, after they announced they would not sign off on a crocodile culling program without further consultation.
The Minister for the Environment, Steven Miles, told local media on Tuesday that he could point to "no credible voice" in support of undertaking a cull, and went on to outline a plan to deal with the vicious predators.
Miles announced that a government funded survey would begin, with aims of ascertaining the impact of the ban on crocodile hunting over the past almost 50 years.
"Since the end of hunting, the crocodile population has recovered, but what we don't know is to what extent and whether the numbers are still increasing, or whether it's just the size of the crocodiles increasing and we are getting more sightings of larger crocodiles." Miles said.
But Indigenous leaders have hit out at the government's unwillingness to kill the predators, with Cape York Indigenous leader Gerhardt Pearson launching a pointed attack on twitter directed at the Labor government.
"(To) let crocs loose on far north black children and our careless visitors, a gutless, stupid and dangerous decision," Pearson tweeted.
Dion Creek, the Indigenous founder of Kalan Enterprises who manage over a million hectares of land in the crocodile infested areas, told the Australian that he is worried about the increased numbers of the reptiles in the area.
"I am very concerned, we've seen the numbers increase, and I am too afraid to let my kids and nephews swim in the rivers we used to swim in as kids," Creek said.
Creek, while in favor of the moratorium on culling, is concerned that the government has failed to undergo more consultation with Indigenous leaders about plans for areas that fall within their territories.
